With best 40-game start, Astros get Jake Marisnick's...

Dallas Keuchel's beard gets into the flow of a short but smooth outing. The lefthander went five innings to cruise to victory on a night the Astros had 12 runs on 14 hits.

Photo: Wilfredo Lee, STF

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Marwin Gonzalez, left, congratulates Jake Marisnick after the first of Marisnick's two homers in a three-hit, four-RBI game for the center fielder.

Photo: Eric Espada, Stringer

MIAMI - Even if they had lost Tuesday, the Astros would have the best 40-game start in franchise history. That fact alone is something to behold. Through a quarter of their season, they've been the best team in baseball.

Behind a 12-2 clobbering of the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night, the Astros improved to 28-12, two wins better than their next-best first quarter of any season. In Wednesday's series finale at Marlins Park, they have a chance to move to 17 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2004 season.

The next-best team in the majors is two games back. No other American League West team has a winning record. Things are going so well for these Astros, winners of 13 of their last 16, that their fifth outfielder, Jake Marisnick, launched a pair of two-run homers Tuesday.

The win secured the Astros' sixth consecutive series victory. They are averaging 6.4 runs over 15 games in May.

"If the pitcher's not on, it's going to be really, really hard to hold us down," catcher Brian McCann said. "We've got dynamic players on this team that have power, speed, good eyes. We take our walks, and we can all hit. We can all flat-out hit."

For the typically light-hitting Marisnick, the multi-homer game was the first of his career. It came in his first start back in the ballpark he called home in 2013 and 2014. He banged both of his long balls off the mammoth home run sculpture that lurks beyond the center-field wall. The first was absolutely crushed - it traveled an estimated 450 feet, "as clean a swing and as hard a contact as I've ever seen (from) him in the time I've been here," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.

Marisnick doubled the total of homers he hit at Marlins Park as a member of the Marlins. Before Tuesday, he hadn't homered in Miami since the first home run of his major league career on July 31, 2013. He downplayed feeling any extra satisfaction from homering twice against his former team before allowing, "It was a pretty cool feeling."

Dallas Keuchel (7-0) became baseball's first pitcher to seven wins but pitched only five innings, allowing two runs. With the Astros leading by eight runs through five innings, Hinch pulled his ace and let Michael Feliz and Tony Sipp team up for the final 12 outs.

"We obviously have big picture in mind when you do stuff like this," Hinch said.

Keuchel, whose 2016 season was cut short by shoulder inflammation, came into his ninth start of the season Tuesday having pitched the most innings in the American League. His five innings Tuesday increased his total to 632⁄3 innings. He said he never likes to pitch only five innings but understood the decision.

"It was a substantial lead," Keuchel said. "The fifth and sixth were pretty taxing on me in New York (on Thursday), a lot of stressful pitches. … I'm on pace for a lot of innings, so I think they're trying to cut back a little bit. Today was a good chance to save a few bullets and make sure I was well-rested for the next homestand."

Keuchel never pitched with a deficit. The Marlins scored their only runs in the bottom of the first inning after the Astros had already jumped ahead with three in the top half. He was bullish with his sinker, throwing it 53 times. He struck out four and didn't issue a walk.

Keuchel's 1.84 ERA through nine starts is not far off his pace during his Cy Young Award-winning season in 2015, when he had a 1.67 ERA through nine starts. He will likely make his next start Monday against the Detroit Tigers on an extra day's rest. Despite the off day Thursday and Keuchel's lesser workload Tuesday, Hinch said he will more than likely keep his rotation in line.

The Astros scored multiple runs in five different innings Tuesday, including three in each of the first two. They chased Miami starter Tom Koehler after three innings in which he exhausted 83 pitches and allowed eight runs, prompting the Marlins to surprisingly option the 30-year-old righthander to Class AAA New Orleans after the game.

Marisnick had three extra-base hits - he doubled and scored in the seventh - which is one more than he had on the season coming into the game. His performance, Hinch noted, probably warrants another start Wednesday.

Brian McCann drove in four runs, three on a bases-clearing double in the second that came on the heels of three consecutive two-out walks against Koehler. The Astros outhit the Marlins 14-4.

"We kept coming at them and kept coming at them," Hinch said. "We hit and hit and hit. Just a really good overall night."

28-122017

1st place in AL West

26-142015

AL wild card; Lost in ALDS

25-151999

AL Central winner; Lost in ALDS

25-151998

AL Central winner; Lost in ALDS

25-151973

Finished 82-80; 4th in NL West

GETAWAY GAINS The Astros are off to the best 40-game start in club history:

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